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Return  this  book  on  or  before  the 
Latest  Date  stamped  below. 

Theft,  mutilation,  and  underlining  of  books 
are  reasons  for  disciplinary  action  and  may 
result  in  dismissal  from  the  University. 

University  of  Illinois  Library 


FREE  RELIGIOUS  TRACTS.  No.  1. 


\ 

TAXATION 


CHURCH 


PROPERTY. 


'  - 


JAMES  PARTON. 


BOSTON: 

PUBLISHED  BY  THE  FREE  RELIGIOUS  ASSOCIATION, 
231  WASHINGTON  STREET. 


t';  58 1 


COCHKANE  &  SAMPSON,  PRINTERS, 

9  BROMFIELD  STREET, 


’  TAXATION  OP  CHURCH  PROPERTY. 


In  most  of  the  States  of  the  Union,  churches,  colleges, 
schools,  museums,  libraries,  hospitals,  fire-engine  houses, 
cemeteries,  charitable  institutions  generally,  and  the 
lands  of  agricultural  societies,  are  exempt  from  taxation. 
I  am  opposed  to  all  exemptions.  Whatever  property  the 
the  State  protects  ought,  I  think,  to  contribute  its  propor¬ 
tion  to  the  State’s  support. 

,  But  it  is  church  property  with  which  we  are  to  occupy 
ourselves  at  the  present  time,  —  a  kind  of  property  which 
nowhere  in  the  world  contributes  aught  to  the  support  of 
the  government  that  protects  it. 

America  is  the  land  of  experiment  and  audacity.  It 
is  right  and  becoming  that  here,  for  the  first  time,  the 
proposition  should  be  deliberately  discussed,  —  to  dis¬ 
continue  this  exemption. 

And  let  no  one  suppose  that  this  measure  is  advocated 
here  in  a  spirit  of  hostility  to  churches.  A  large  propor¬ 
tion  of  the  virtuous  people  of  Christendom,  and  certainly 
a  very  large  proportion  of  all  the  persons  to  whom  I  have 
been  most  warmly  attached  in  the  course  of  my  life,  have 
been  members  or  frequenters  of  churches.  I  know  the 
importance  of  the  part  which  churches  play  in  our 


^  n 


4 


modern  world,  and  how  much  solace,  admonition,  and 
entertainment  they  afford  to  multitudes  of  most  worthy 
people  in  every  land. 

But  you  do  not  strengthen  an  institution  by  pauperiz¬ 
es^  ing  it,  and  you  do  not  strengthen  it  by  making  it  a  frac¬ 
tional  part  of  a  pauper,  even  to  the  extent  of  relieving  it 
of  its  taxes. 

An  institution  exempt  from  taxation  may  be  a  very 
good  fungus,  but  it  comes  short  of  being  a  living  branch. 
Taxing  ecclesiastical  property,  so  far  from  being  an  in¬ 
jury  to  the  church,  would  be  one  of  those  just,  wise,  and 
timely  measures  which  benefit  everybody  and  hurt  no¬ 
body.  It  would  send  the  sap  circulating  through  torpid 
members.  It  would  extinguish  some  feeble  life ;  but  it 
would  strengthen  and  vivify  the  fittest,  which  would  sur¬ 
vive.  And  this,  I  am  informed,  is  the  opinion  of  some 
of  the  most  influential  members  of  the  late  Evangelical 
Alliance. 

Consider  the  state  of  things  now  existing  in  any 
representative  country  town  of  the  United  States.  Let 
me  select  one  of  ten  or  fifteen  thousand  inhabitants,  and 
endeavor  to  see  how  a  fair  taxation  of  the  churches  would 
work  in  practice. 

"  In  this  town  are  seventeen  Protestant  churches  strug¬ 


gling  for  life.  The  moral  and  benevolent  activity  of  the 
place,  —  that  noblest  part  of  human  toil  which  is  dedi¬ 
cated  to  the  general  good,  or  to  some  object  in  which 
others  share  beside  ourselves,  —  this  most  precious  over¬ 
plus  of  human  energy,  strictly  limited  as  it  is  in  amount, 
is  chiefly  expended  in  keeping  the  breath  of  life  in  these 
seventeen  organizations.  For  this  the  ladies  sew,  con¬ 
trive,  beg,  cook,  sing,  hold  fairs,  give  entertainments,  get 
up  Baptist  picnics  and  Episcopal  clam-bakes,  drum  for 
the  Sunday  school,  and  move  heaven  and  earth.  For 
this  seventeen  anxious  clergymen  toil,  scheme,  and  wear 


f 


5 


out  their  souls.  For  this  seventeen  sextons  pull  the  aw¬ 
ful  bell,  making  the  clay  hideous  with  horrid  clang. 

This  strain  upon  the  best  activity  of  the  place  is  due 
to  the  simple  fact,  that  one-half  of  these  churches  are 
superfluous.  On  a  certain  Sunday  some  months  ago,  a 
fine  day  in  winter,  it  was  ascertained,  by  actual  count, 
that  the  whole  number  of  persons  attending  these 
churches  during  the  day,  including  the  two  services,  was 
twenty-eight  hundred.  The  entire  church-going  popula¬ 
tion  could  be  handsomely  accommodated  in  one-half  of 
the  existing  edifices. 

Why,  then,  do  they  not  unite?  It  is  because  none  of 
them  can  quite  succeed  in  dying.  While  there  is  life 
there  is  hope.  They  hold  on,  and  will  hold  on,  as  long 
as  it  is  possible  for  the  annual  expenses  to  be  met.  The 
law  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest  hungers  for  the  extinc-  - 
^  tion  of  half  of  them;  but  that  beneficent  law  is  balked 
and  frustrated  by  the  exemption  from  taxatiou.  That 
blessed  Bankruptcy,  which  Mr.  Carlyle  so  justly  extols  as 
nature’s  remedy  for  superfluous  and  mismanaged  activ¬ 
ities,  hangs  over  them  threatening,  but  powerless,  be¬ 
cause  they  do  not  have  to  bear  their  just  share  of  the 
public  burdens. 

Macbeth  was  rationally  alarmed  upon  observing  that 
Banquo,  though  his  brains  were  out, -.would  not  die.  It 
was  a  dreadful  thing  indeed.  Nothing  is  more  necessary 
for  the  general  good  than  that  institutions  should  perish 
when  they  have  not  life  enough  to  live. 

In  the  midst  of  these  seventeen  weak  and  strug¬ 
gling  organizations,  there  is  one  which  abounds  in  life, 
vigor,  enterprise,  and  resolution,  —  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church,  —  usually  the  largest  and  handsomest  in  the 
town,  and  the  only  one  which  has  a  full  congregation. 
Nay,  it  accommodates  several  congregations  on  each 
Sunday.  From  six  in  the  morning  until  eight  in  the 


6 


evening,  it  is  always  occupied,  often  crowded,  and  once 
crammed. 

On  that  Sunday  when  twenty-eight  hundred  persons 
were  counted  in  the  seventeen  Protestant  churches,  in 
this  one  Catholic  Church  the  number  was  eighteen  hun¬ 
dred. 

And  of  whom  are  these  congregations  composed? 
They  are  composed  chiefly  of  the  only  classes  in  the 
United  States  that  can  spare  one-half  of  their  income,  — 
domestic  servants  and  operatives  in  cotton  mills. 

And  they  do  spare  one-half.  As  a  class,  they  spend 
their  large  surplus  in  two  ways  :  first,  in  extending  the 
Catholic  Church  in  America ;  second,  in  bringing  over  to 
America  more  Catholics.  Hence,  the  rapid  growth  of 
the  Catholic  Church  and  Catholic  institutions  in  the 
United  States.  In  the  manufacturing  cities  of  New 
England  they  add  church  to  church,  edifice  to  edifice, 
‘field  to  field.  To-day  a  monastery  is  begun  ;  now,  it  is  a 
nunnery ;  next  year,  a  new  house  for  the  priest ;  and 
.before  long  a  Cathedral  begins  slowly  to  rise  above  the 
houses  of  the  town.  And  they  know  well  the  virtue  of 
holding  land.  At  the  very  beginning  of  a  new  enter¬ 
prise  they  are  apt  to  go  for  a  large  piece  of  land,  with 
room  enough  sometimes  for  centuries  of  growth. 

The  seventeen  Protestant  churches  look  on,  and  shake 
their  heads,  and  growl,  and  forbode  evil  in'  the  future; 
but  while  they  are  doing  so  the  priests  keep  quietly  on 
converting  servant  girls’  pennies  and  dollars  into  well- 
situated  lots  and  solid  masonry. 

Already,  in  some  of  our  cities,  the  property  belonging 
to  the  Catholic  Church  is  immense.  In  St.  Louis  it  is 
computed  at  twenty  millions;  and  in  New  York,  say  with¬ 
in  ten  miles  of  the  City  Hall,  I  should  suppose  their  prop¬ 
erty  would  be  valued,  by  just  tax  commissioners,  at  not 
less  than  eighty  millions. 


7 


Far  be  it  from  me  to  blame  the  Catholics  for  pushing 
the  interests  of  their  church  with  so  much  enterprize,’ 
energy,  and  tact.  Their  conduct  is  just  what  their  belief 
demands  of  them.  They  could  not  be  good  Catholics  if 
they  did  not  regard  the  spread  of  the  Catholic  Church 
as  the  chief  interest  of  man. 

But  the  question  for  us  to  consider  —  for  us  who  are 
American  citizens  first,  and  everything  else  second 
—  is,  whether  it  is  safe  and  right  that  they  should  go  on 
thus  absorbing  the  property  of  the  country. 

Look  abroad  !  In  Sicily,  Italy,  Spain,  Mexico,  Peru, — 
in  most  Catholic  countries,  —  wherever  you  see  an  edifice, 
or  group  of  edifices,  that  overwhelm  the  mind  with  wonder, 
either  for  their  magnitude  or  their  magnificence,  you  may 
be  sure  that  they  are  ecclesiastical.  The  people,  —  man, 
sacred  man,  to  us  the  most  sacred  object  in  the  universe, 
grovels  in  huts,  and  wallows  in  the  dirt,  in  order  that  the 
inanimate  God  whom  he  adores  may  dwell  in  lofty  temples 
and  glisten  with  beautiful  gems.  It  is  a  sorry  sight,  “fore 
God,  a  sorry  sight !  ’’  May  this  portion  of  America  never 
witness  it ! 

At  the  beginning  of  the  French  Revolution,  which  was 
the  most  beneficent  explosion  that  history  records,  two 
acres  out  of  every  five  in  all  France  belonged  to  the 
church.  And  the  church  was  so  good  a  judge  of  land, 
that,  in  a  large  number  of  parishes,  the  church’s  two 
acres  were  worth  more  than  the  people’s  three.  France 
was  then  in  a  condition  similar  to  that  of  England  before 
Henry  VIII.  broke  up  the  ecclesiastical  institutions,  and 
secularized  their  property,  —  \X\2X\s^  stopped  exemptmg  it 
from  taxatio7i  I 

Now,  there  are  but  two  conceivable  ways  in  which  the 
increase  of  Catholic  property  can  be  kept  within  safe, 
just,  and  reasonable  bounds  in  the  United  States,  and 
the  country  be  saved  from  the  necessity  of  a  Henry 


8 


VIII.  or  a  French  Revolution.  One  is,  by  destroying 
popular  faith  in  the  fictions  upon  which  the  external  part 
of  the  Catholic  system  rests.  But  this  will  be  a  slow  pro¬ 
cess.  It  can  only  result  from  the  gradual  advance  of  our 
race  in  knowledge,  mental  health,  happiness,  dignity,  and 
courage.  And  it  will  be  the  more  slow  because  large 
numbers  of  the  Protestants  still  adhere  to  several  of  the 
grosser  and  less  picturesque  of  those  fictions. 

But  the  other  method  is,  simply,  to  tax  all  ecclesiasti¬ 
cal  property,  as  other  property  is  taxed.  Let  every  tub 
stand  upon  its  own  bottom.  Let  all  the  property,  I  re¬ 
peat,  which  the  State  protects  pay  its  just  proportion  to 
the  State’s  support. 

Catholics  themselves,  if  they  will  study  the  past,  can¬ 
not  intelligently  object  to  this  measure,  because  it  would 
supply  the  great  lack  in  their  system.  Viewed  merely  as 
an  organization,  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  has  only 
one  serious  defect.  There  is  no  provision  in  it  against 
its  excessive  development.  Hence  we  find  in  the  cities 
of  the  south  of  Europe  and  of  South  America  such 
swarms  of  ecclesiastics,  such  masses  of  ecclesiastical 
property,  that  Catholics  themselves,  devout  and  faithful 
Catholics,  are  among  the  foremost  in  urging  a  reduction 
of  the  ecclesiastical  orders. 

There  is  only  one  just  and  sure  mode  of  proceeding  in 
this  matter.  It  is  to  add  every  portion  of  the  church’s 
estate  to  the  tax-list. 

A  large  portion  of  what  religion  includes  may  be 
fairly  classed  under  the  head  of  luxury.  And  who  will 
deny  that  luxuries  are  fair  objects  of  taxation  ?  In  reli¬ 
gion  there  is  the  bread  and  meat,  and  there  is  also  the 
turtle  and  champagne ;  there  is  the  poor  man’s  fustian, 
and  the  rich  lady’s  velvet. 

Consider  our  Trinity  Church,  for  example,  so  pleasing 
an  object  to  us  all  at  the  head  of  Wall  Street.  A  few 


9 


years  ago,  the  attendance  at  this  costly  tenaple  on  Sun¬ 
day  was  so  small  that  you  might  have  safely  tried  Car¬ 
lyle’s  experiment,  —  fired  a  pistol  across  the  church,  in  at 
one  window  and  out  at  another,  without  much  danger  of 
hitting  a  Christian.  Of  late  years,  on  the  contrary,  it  is 
often  well  attended,  and  sometimes  crowded.  I  once 
asked  the  clergyman  in  charge  of  the  church,  the  late 
lamented  Dr.  Vinton,  —  a  genial  soul,  —  what  he  though^ 
was  the  reason  of  this  remarkable  increase  in  the  con¬ 
gregation.  His  robust  and  honest  answer  was  this  : 
“  The  blessing  of  God  upon  good  music.” 

They  have,  as  you  know,  a  very  fine  organ,  a  highly 
accomplished  organist,  a  choir  of  well-trained  men  and 
boys  to  sing,  an  orchestra  of  stringed  and  wind  instru¬ 
ments,  a  beautiful  chime  of  bells,  and  several  clergymen 
trained  to  chant  the  service  in  harmony  with  the  music. 
I  suppose  the  entire  performance  cannot  cost  less  than 
a  thousand  dollars  a  Sunday.  I  have  enjoyed  it  once  or 
twice  very  much,  and  I  always  recommend  friends  visit¬ 
ing  the  city  by  no  means  to  overlook  this  interesting  and 
melodious  lion. 

Nay,  more,  I  honor  the  principle  of  employing  the  fine 
arts  in  the  most  elevated  act  of  the  human  mind.  If  it 
devolved  upon  me  to  create  a  church,  its  service  should 
be,  in  part,  the  most  magnificent  exhibition  of  all  that 
man  has  ever  accomplished  in  the  way  of  architecture,, 
painting,  sculpture,- poetry  and  eloquence ;  for  one  of  my 
main  objects  should  be  to  exalt  and  glorify  man.  But 
never  would  I  cripple  and  degrade  my  church  by  put¬ 
ting  it  on  the  free  list,  by  throwing  any  part  of  the  bur¬ 
den  of  supporting  it  upon  fellow-citizens  who  cherished,, 
perhaps,  the  most  opposite  ideas,  who  would  hold  in  con¬ 
tempt  or  aversion  all  the  splendors  of  my  temple,  pre¬ 
ferring  plain  benches,  walls  unadorned,  and  merry  camp- 
meeting  hymns. 


10 


Now,  in  the  way  of  music,  the  greatest  benefactors  the 
people  of  the  United  States  have  ever  known,  next  to  the 
great  European  composers,  are  such  men  as  Theodore 
Thomas,  Max  Maretzek,  Carl  Zerrahn,  and  others  of 
their  class.  They  do  more  in  any  week  of  their  lives  to 
promote  among  us  a  love  of  good  music  than  Trinity 
Church  has  ever  accomplished  during  the  whole  period 
of  its  existence ;  and  this  they  have  done  in  the  most 
legitimate  and  honorable  way,  as  their  chosen  mode  of 
earning  their  livelihood.  •  But  these  gentlemen  are  taxed 
every  time  they  lift  their  baton.  Every  hall  and  opera 
house  in  which  they  perform  is  taxed.  Surely,  if  any 
musicians  should  be  exempt,  it  should  not  be  the  clergy 
and  orchestra  of  Trinity  Church,  the  servants  of  a  rich 
corporation,  but  Thomas,  Maretzek,  and  Zerrahn,  who 
minister  to  the  enjoyment  and  elevate  the  taste  of  mill¬ 
ions  of  their  fellow-citizens  every  year. 

How  heavily  rests  the  burden  of  life  upon  the  shoulders, 
and  upon  the  heart,  too,  of  an  average  citizen  and  virtuous 
father  of  a  family.  For  ten  years  he  toils  and  save>, 
denying  himself  many  alluring  enjoyments,  in  order  that 
he  may  make  a  first  payment  upon  a  modest  home  for 
those  he  loves.  Then  he  works  and  saves  for  another 
five  years  to  pay  off  the  mortgage.  When  all  is  done, 
when  he  is  at  last  the  proud  possessor  of  the  nest  that 
shelters  his  family,  he  goes  like  a  man  every  November 
and  pays  a  tax  upon  it,  from  one  hundred  to  three  hun¬ 
dred  dollars. 

The  little  house  in  which  I  have  lived  for  the  last  fif¬ 
teen  years  I  shall  have  to  pay  a  tax  upon  in  fifteen  days, 
of  about  two  hundred  and  tw^enty  dollars.  It  was  about 
that  last  year,  and  in  New  York  revolutions  never  go 
backward. 

But  right  before  my  eyes,  as  I  used  to  come  down  the 
steps,  rises  a  lofty  and  luxurious  edifice,  the  property  of 


a  few  rich  men,  which  they  only  care  to  use  four  hours  a 
week.  It  is  worth,  I  suppose,  half  a  million  dollars  ;  and 
if  it  were  fairly  taxed  it  would  place  in  the  city  treas¬ 
ury  in  the  course  of  next  month  not  less  than  ten  thou¬ 
sand  dollars.  But  it  will  not  pay  in  one  dollar,  because 
it  has  two  steeples  upon  it,  and  is  named  in  honor  of  the 
patron  saint  of  England,  who  slew  the  dragon. 

But  mark,  if  a  mob  should  burn  it,  the  tax-payers  of 
New  York  would  be  expected  to  pay  every  dollar  of  the 
damage. 

At  this  moment,  a  number  of  very  worthy  gentlemen, 
who  stand  justly  high  in  this  community,  are  building,  in 
the  Fifth  Avenue,  edifices  for  their  Sunday  edification 
which  cost  seven  or  eight  hundred  thousand  dollars. 
The  land  alone  costs  three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand. 
These  gentlemen  have  a  perfect  right  to  build  elegant 
and  costly  churches,  if  they  can  afford  it,  and  if  it  accords 
with  the  principles  of  their  religion,  of  which  they  alone 
are  to  be  the  judges.  I  merely  wish  to  remark  that 
churches  of  this  character  may  fairly  be  classed  as  lux¬ 
uries,  and  as  such  are  peculiarly  adapted  to  taxation. 
Many  good  Christians  deeply  lament  the  expenditure  of 
so  much  money  upon  edifices  which  minister  to  the  de¬ 
sires  of  so  few,  and  to  those  few  during  only  a  few  hours 
in  every  week.  But  I  tell  those  lamenting  Christians 
that  the  only  way  to  keep  within  bounds  the  erection  of 
costly  churches  is  to  subject  them  to  just  and  equal  tax¬ 
ation. 

“The  New  York  Tribune’’  tells  us  that  our  Episcopal 
brethren  are  about  to  erect  in  this  city  a  cathedral  that  is 
to  cost  two  millions  of  dollars.  It  will  more  likely  cost 
five  ;  and  there  is  one  gentleman  interested  in  the  schenie 
who  could  build  it  outright,  gold  candle-sticks  and  all,  by 
assigning  to  it  his  surplus  income  for  two  years.  Among 
the  subscriptions  already  received  are  two  of  a  hundred 


thousand  dollars  each.  I  would  put  it  to  the  justice  of 
the  American  people,  and  I  would  submit  it  to  the 
heavy-laden  tax-payers  of  New  York,  if  it  is  fair  to  the 
laboring  men  of  this  city  to  exempt  such  a  costly  toy  as 
that  from  taxation? 

If  it  j$.  to  be  exempt  fromjhe  charge  of  supporting  the 
government,  then  the  government  ought  to  be  exempt 
from  the  charge  of  protecting  it. 

There  is  a  particular  reason  why  this  subject  should  be 
considered  now. 

Every  century  has  its  pet  virtue:  ours  is  benevolence. 
The  works  of  philanthropists,  and,  above  all,  the  work  of 
philanthropists,  appeals  so  powerfully  to  the  heart,  and 
so  kindles  the  imagination,  that  it  is  easy  for  us  to  attach 
an  exaggerated  value  to  it. 

In  truth,  no  virtue  more  needs  restraining  and  guiding 
than  our  benevolence.  If  I  may  trust  my  own  very  lim¬ 
ited  observation  of  life,  I  should  say,  that,  generally,  a 
very  benevolent  character  is  a  weak  character.  A  weak 
character  is,  usually,  extremely  sensitive  to  the  approba¬ 
tion  of  others,  runs  readily  to  vanity  and  an  ignoble  lust 
of  glory,  and,  in  its  extreme  developement,  is  not  far  from 
madness. 

The  strong  are  just.  And  justice  is  a  far  rarer,  nobler, 
higher,  more  difficult  thing  than  benevolence. 

But,  benevolence  being  the  popular  virtue  of  the  cen¬ 
tury,  there  is  a  general  propensity  to  win  its  easy  and  lav¬ 
ish  honors.  Hard  old  money-makers,  after  a  long  life  of 
hard-dealing,  amuse  a  dreary,  childless,  friendless,  love¬ 
less  old  age  by  founding  institutions,  of  which  we  have 
too  many  already,  and  consigning  masses  of  ill-gotten 
property  to  the  spoliation  and  mismanagement  of  trus¬ 
tees. 

A  just  taxation  of  these  institutions  will  but  invigo¬ 
rate  those  that  have  a  right  to  exist,  and  gradually  extin- 


guish  those  that^_o]^htjnever  to  have  been  called  into 
being. 

America  has  been  the  paradise  of  dead-heads.  Per¬ 
haps  all  good  dead-heads  in  other  lands,  when  they 
have  died,  have  come  to  America ;  and  we  know,  for  a 
certainty,  that  many  have  been  translated  hither  without 
having  gone  through  the  ceremony  of  dying.  Dead  head- 
ism  in  the  United  States  has  been  a  cause  of  widespread 
demoralization.  All  Washington  was  more  or  less  cor¬ 
rupted  by  it.  The  franks  of  members  of  Congress  used 
to  be  about  everywhere,  and  people  grew  rich  upon  the 
mere  waste  of  the  Capitol.  As  to  railroad  passes,  I  was 
once  told  that  nobody  but  a  fool  ever  paid  his  fare. 
Base  was  the  slave  that  paid. 

But,  of  late,  we  have  been  making  an  effort  to  change 
all  this.  The  late  Horace  Greeley  was  one  of  the  first 
to  set  his  face  against  the  dead-head  principle  in  all  its 
manifestations,  going  so  far  as  to  put  down  his  four  cents 
every  time  he  took  a  copy  of  ‘‘The  Tribune from  the 
counter  of  his  own  office.  When  the  late  Horace  F. 
Clark  offered  him,  in  Chicago,  a  free  pass  to  New  York, 
he  refused  it,  and  denounced,  with  his  usual  vehemence, 
the  entire  system  of  trying  to  get  something  for  nothing. 

The  franking  privilege  has  been  abolished.  Mileage 
is  allowed  no  more.  Free  stationery  and  penknives  are 
a  reminiscence.  These  three  great  measures  of  reform 
suffice  to  redeem  whatever  errors  of  judgment  the  last 
Congress  may  have  committed.  The  railroad  corpora¬ 
tions  are  making  a  vigorous  effort  to  break  up  the  fraud¬ 
ulent  system  of  free  passes.  Conductors  of  the  great 
new'spapers  no  longer  quarter  members  of  their  staff 
upon  hotels.  The  free  list  is,  everywhere  and  in  every¬ 
thing,  struggling  to  get  suspended.  At  least,  a  notice  to 
that  effect  is  stuck  up. 

It  remains  to  erase  from  our  statute  books  the  entire 


14 


catalogue  of  exemptions  from  taxation,  —  to  say, 
dead-heads  on  the  tax-lists,’’  and  to  adopt  it  as  an 
inviolable  principle,  that  whatever  property  the  State 
protects  shall  contribute  its  quota  to  the  State’s  sup¬ 
port  ;  or,  if  the  churches  and  institutions  prefer  it,  — 


No  Taxation,  no  Protection. 


appendix. 


)P1NI0N  OF  A  ROMAN  CATHOLIC  CLERGLMAN 
OF  THE  CITY  OF  NEW  YORK. 

The  following  orticle.  from  “The  New  York  Daily  Tob- 

»  caf  Feh  2  2  187^,  presents  the  views  of  a  Roman 

cTl’holic  clergyma^n  well-known  for  his  enlightened  mm 
and  public  spirit. 

free  gas  and  general  taxation, 
all  property  should  be  equally  taxed. 

To  the  Editor  of  The  Tribune. 

A  nrominent  clergyman  of  this  city,  upon  request, 

of  taxation,  as  follows  .  ^  resolution 

sniroirH 

nr  in  Other  words,  it  is  the  removal  of  a  great  wro  « 

overburdened  tax-payers  of  the  city,  and 

source  of  gross  frauds.  The  persons  who  own  or  frequent 


* 

such  places  are  generally  the  wealthier  class,  and  they  are 
able,  and  ought  to  be  willing,  to  pay  for  what  is  for  their  own 
accommodation.  It  is  mean,  as  well  as  unjust,  to  oblige  the 
poor,  and  those  who  do  not  frequent  such  places,  to  pay  the 
gas  bills  for  them.  If  all  real  estate,  also,  of  every  kind,  and 
no  matter  to  whom  belonging,  had  to  pay  taxes  and  assess¬ 
ments,  a  great  good  would  be  accomplished.  It  would  make 
church  corporations  and  other  corporate  bodies  a  most  excel¬ 
lent  vigilance  committee  over  the  taxation  of  property.  There 
are  no  more  shrewd,  energetic,  and  vigilant  men,  where  their 
own  interests  are  concerned,  than  they  are.  If  they  had  to  pay 
taxes  they  would  look  after  taxation,  and  take  care  that  it  was 
not  unjust  or  excessive.  They  would  be  opposed  to  extrav¬ 
agant  and  dishonest  expenditure  of  public  money.  They 
would  insist  on  honesty  and  economy;  and  if  the  public  money 
should  be  stolen  the  churches  would  ring  with  denunciation, 
and  the  best  men  in  the  community  would  be  up  in  arms 
against  thieves.  Now  they  are  silent  or  indifferent,  because 
their  poorer  neighbors,  who  probably  never  entered  their 
churches,  have  to  pay  the  taxes  for  them,  and  our  big-hearted, 
generous  legislators  remit  all  assessments  without  being  asked 
to  do  so.  Of  course,  they  never  expect  any  return  for  their 
generosity  at  other  people’s  expense. 

Whether  it  is  an  unjust  act  to  make  one  portion  of  the  com¬ 
munity  pay  the  tax  of  another,  I  would  not  like  to  decide.  It 
certainly  looks  unjust.  To  make  a  man  pay  for  a  thing  he 
never  uses,  and  from  which  he  derives  no  benefit,  looks  like 
injustice.  It  looks  like  wrong  to  make  the  poor  man,  who 
never  knew  the  luxury  of  a  cushion  in  a  rich  church,  pay  the 
taxes  of  the  rich  man  who  enjoys  his  ease,  respectability,  and 
piety  in  such  places.  If  it  is  wrong,  it  should  be  redressed  as 
soon  as  possible.  If  persisted  in,  not  only  present  evils,  but 
evils  in  the  future,  will  come  upon  the  property-owners.  It  is 
said  that  curses,  like  chickens,  come  home  to  roost  ;  so  do 
wrong  and  injustice  of  every  kind  come  home,  sooner  or  later, 
to  roost  on  the  perpetrators.  In  my  opinion,  the  rights  of  prop¬ 
erty  are  very  sacred.  I  have  a  great  respect  for  them.  But 
the  duties  of  property  ought  to  be  also  sacred  and  equally  re¬ 
spected.  I  believe  that  property  has  its  duties  as  well  as  its 


17 


rights,  and  if  the  duties  are  not  sacred  and  performed,  the 
rights  will  not  long  be  respected  nor  secure.  If  all  property 
had  to  bear  its  share  of  taxation,  its  right  to  protection  would 
be  better  secured,  for  no  one  wishes  to  injure  what  helps  him 
to  lighten  or  bear  his  own  burdens.  I£we_exempt  the  proper¬ 
ty  of  any  portion  of. the  community  from  taxation,  the  rest  must 
pay  increas.edj:axes,  and  bear  a  heavier  burden.  And  remem- 
ber  that  it  is  often  those  who  have  no  interest  in  the  excepted 
property,  and  who  de^e  no  benefit  from  it  whatever,  that 
have  to  pay  the  taxes  of  their  neighbors. 

Besides,  the  exemption  of  certain  property  from  taxation  has 
a  tendency  to  make  the  managers  of  churches  and  other  insti¬ 
tutions  acquire,  and  hold  unproductive,  more  property  than  is  * 
necessary  for  them,  thus  increasing  uselessly  the  burdens  of  - 
the  community.  If  they  had  to  pay  taxes  like  others,  they 
would  hold  only  what  wa^  necessaq^-ibr  them^.^d^keepj^i  in 
a.  productive  coi^itipn.  j  The  State  will  sell  the  property  of 
its  citizens  for  non-payment  of  taxes,  and  after  a  certain  time 
give  a  valid  title  to  the  purchaser.  No  one  questions  the  right 
of  the  State  to  do  so.  Well,  then,  if  one  portion  of  the  com¬ 
munity  pays  for  a  certain  number  of  years  the  taxes  of  another 
portion,  is  it  not  virtually  the  owner  of  the  exempted  property? 
And  may  it  not  in  justice  demand  it  ?  This  is  a  serious  view 
to  take  of  taxation.  But  the  question  is,  Is  it  not  equity?  Any¬ 
how,  it  has  often  led  to  confiscation,  which  is  always  demoraliz¬ 
ing,  and  ought  if  possible  to  be  avoided.  The  State,  like  our 
politicians,  has  often,  in  the  history  of  the  world,  manifested  a 
great  show  of  liberality  by  exempting  a  vast  amount  of  prop¬ 
erty  from  taxation.  But  it  ended  in  bankruptcy,  poverty  of  the 
people,  and  confiscation.  To  avoid  such  consequences,  soon¬ 
er  or  later,  all  property  ought  to  be  equally  taxed.  Confisca¬ 
tion  is^ wasteful  and  demoralizing.  It  is  fruitful  of  endless  liti¬ 
gation,  and  spreads  strife  and  bitter  hatred  among  the  people 
for  generations. 

The  exemption  of  some  property  from  taxation  necessitates 
a  high  rate  of  taxation  on  other  property,  causes  high  rents, 

id  dear  means  of  living  for  the  laboring  classes,  and  ulti- 


Qiately  leads  to  pauperism,  with  which  they  have  been  cursed 
in  the  Old  World,  and  from  which  we  will  not  escape  if  we 


i8 


are  not  v^ise  in  time.  It  is  said  that  in  some  countries  of  the 
Old  World  one-fourth  of  the  property  of  the  realm,  in  others 
one-third,  and  in  others  one  half,  was  exempt  from  taxation 
What  was  the  consequence  ?  They  nearly  all,  when  obliged  to 
depend  oi>  their  own  internal  resources^  came  to  bankruptcy, 
poverty  of  the  masses,  pauperism,  and  finally  ended  in  revo¬ 
lution  and  confiscation.  It  is,  I  believe,  an  admitted  philo¬ 
sophic  truth  that  the  same  causes  under  the  same  circum¬ 
stances  will  produce  the  same  eifects.  Let  us,  then,  learn 
wisdom  from  the  folly  or  misfortunes  of  others,  and  make  all 
property  bear  its  share  of  the  common  burdens.  We  will  thus 
escape  injustice,*  dishonesty,  and  pauperism,  as  well  as  revo¬ 
lution  and  confiscation.  We  have  commenced  wrong,  by  ex¬ 
empting  any  property  from  taxation,  and  when  people  begin 
wrong  they  are  sure  to  end  wrong.  Let  us  consider  and  take 
a  new  departure  before  it  is  too  late. 

New  York^  Feb.  19,  1873. 


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